Ireland remains at the “top of the league of shame” when it comes to average class sizes, according to the general secretary of the Irish National Teachers Organisation (INTO) John Boyle. He made the comment in reference to the most recent figures on class sizes released by the Department of Education which found that the average number of pupils per class is 22.5 compared to the European average of 19.
Boyle castigated the Government for not reducing class sizes in the last two years, saying that they could not repeat this mistake in the coming budget. October will reveal whether the teacher’s leader gets a response from the Coalition, but research from the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (IFAC) published this week may offer a possible explanation as to why the Government is not treating the matter with the urgency Boyle demands.
As part of a wider study of tax and State spending in Ireland, the fiscal watchdog noted that despite spending less than its peers on education, Ireland generally achieves better outcomes. The Government currently spends close to the average of other high income European countries on education, according to IFAC, but when the figure is adjusted for demographic factors – such as the higher percentage of Irish people under 19 – Irish spending is well below European levels.
Despite this, education outcomes in Ireland are well above average. Ireland now has the highest share of its population with a third-level qualification in Europe and scores well on Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) tests for reading, science and mathematics. The figures suggest that Irish spending on education was amongst the most efficient in the OECD.
RM Block
IFAC says that the fall in the number of children in Ireland over the coming decade may improve the teacher student ratio. As the Government sets about framing the budget against an uncertain backdrop, the prospect that the issue of class size could be resolved without real spending increases is a tantalising one. That said, the difficulty schools are facing in filling vacant posts remains acute.
